Exams completed!

It's been ages since I've updated the blog, I know.  Just got back from almost a month in the States with family.

Fran took two entrance exams while I was gone.  Marisol and her mother were here in Oaxaca during that time and they took good care of Fran, making sure she was adequately fed.

Fran said that the first exam at Benito Juarez University was easy and only two hours long.  But the second one two weeks later at the Tech University was four hours, 500 questions, and more difficult.  She was worried that there were an unexpected 35 questions in English which she may have answered incorrectly, but seemed reasonably confident about the math section.  Her instructors at the Oaxaca Learning Center encouraged her not to give up hope because she may have passed on the basis of the math.

We will find out July 7th about whether she is accepted at Benito Juarez (the lesser of the two institutions) but have to wait until August 9th to see if the Tech University accepts her.  We have our fingers crossed!!

Fran continues to study every day, even though there is a break at the Learning Center.  If she manages to get in the Tech University she will still have another test to take for final entrance a month after classes start.  She can't afford to relax now!

While I was gone, Fran went up to the mountains to visit her family for 2 days.  It is a long 6 hour journey, the last part on roads that often wash out in the current rainy season.  Here is a photo she sent to my Facebook from that trip. Her older sister took the photo.  Fran and her two brothers are accompanied in this photo by younger cousins.

 I want to take this opportunity to again thank all of you who have been supporting Fran's education with your well wishes, donations, and occasional gifts.  If you would like to help this or next month, she really needs a good pair of black leather shoes to wear on her job, where she stands 6 hours a day at the cash register  All she has are some old black boots which have a raised heel and are very uncomfortable.  Good shoes are just as expensive here as they are in the States, unfortunately, which make them a precious commodity!

I will be sure to update you all with news of her examinations, if not sooner!  For now, peace and smiles from Oaxaca!